A piece of my heart was left in Haiti!
By: Corinna
I arrived in Port Au Price Haiti on March 11th, 2012 with a team of phenomenal people working with LifePaths Global Alliance. Life as I knew it forever changed as soon as the vivacious baggage attendee grabbed my suitcase! On this day I had not understood yet how my heart would be transformed.
Each person that is lucky enough to travel to Haiti with LGA will create genuine relationships that you build with your volunteer team and the Haitians that are there taking care of you and working along side of you. I have never met such an honest group of driven individuals that literally place themselves in harms way if it meant displacing you from it. I was inspired as I witnessed this daily by a group of Haitian men that surrounded our team of volunteers everywhere we went. I remember small things like being constantly redirected to walk along the inside of these guys rather than the outside close to traffic because the driving can sometimes be unpredictable. The Haitian women would smile at you in a way that exuded happiness as they mopped up all the dirt I just dragged in! For all that the Haitians endure they are so pleased to work and be a part of something that helps their community.
This was an amazing opportunity from LGA that I am grateful for. I say opportunity and not experience because an opportunity in definition is “an amount of time or a situation in which something can be done, a favorable juncture of circumstances, a good chance for advancement or progress”. The definition of experience is this, “direct observation of or participation in events as a basis of knowledge, the fact or state of having been affected by or gained knowledge through direct observation or participation”. Though one would see these definitions and say that this describes an experience and not an opportunity. Experience to me seems that people “may” go to Haiti and experience how Haitians live and what limitations they are faced with daily to just return home with this knowledge. However, as an opportunity one would go to Haiti and have the chance to help change a circumstance for one or more people whether it is for Haitians or the people back home. LGA provides volunteers with an opportunity to touch the lives of Haitians and the lives of their awaiting friends and family upon their return.
Yes, Haiti still is in need of many things, but another important factor that never crossed my mind was “we” as spoiled North American’s also are in need. As a generalization, we have not been listening or even asking what Haitians need. I learned from a very passionate leader in one of the tent cities we provided a mobile clinic for that Haitians are not in need of education on hygiene or how to assemble a tent. What they really need is for someone to listen to them rather than decide for them what is essential. Though this is not to say all organizations are like this or that the things they are doing are not helping, but perhaps these efforts and fundraising could be redirected with the involvement of Haitians themselves.
These are only my opinions from what I learned on this trip. I encourage everyone to have this opportunity to develop their own understanding so that one day we can all band together with one thought, one mission and one love…..Haiti!
This is really good job.
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